Hands-On Preview Video – Sony a99 Mark II

At a press conference at the 2016 Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany, Sony unveiled their new “flagship” camera, the a99 Mark II. You can read our live report from the press conference here.

Sony invited us to have an exclusive look at the a99 II in a closed-door session with select members of the press. Even in its prototype state, the a99 Mark II is impressive, managing to pack the performance of cameras like the Nikon D5 and Canon 1DX Mark II into a body the size of most APS-C DSLRs, despite having a massive 42MP sensor.

The new a99 features an Exmor R CMOS sensor that is BSI (Backside Illuminated) and uses tech that Sony calls Front-end LSI, which is supposed to produce more accurate autofocus. It also includes a new five-axis in-body stabilization and an ISO range of 102,400.

On the video side, the a99 Mark II is capable of full-frame, non-cropped 4K without pixel teleshift.

Images are not yet available from the a99 Mark II, as the firmware is far from final but the samples Sony showed were impressive. Sony plans to ship the a99 Mark II in November, and we’re looking forward to performing a full hands-on review of the new camera, and seeing how it stacks up to the competition.